latest acquisition!!

Assisted in part with a Clean Ohio grant
and a conservation easement from
Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves
Closed on Property August, 2007

Plum Run Prairie

140 acres in Adams Co

in the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System

      Plum Run Prairie has been a REAL exciting find for us. Though located in the vicinity of our pre-existing Ka-ma-ma Prairie Preserve in Adams County, Plum Run is quite different from Ka-ma-ma in that instead of being a short-grass prairie, it is a tall-grass one — with lots of big bluestem and Indian grass. Walking beneath the juniper-studded grasslands in late fall with the heavy  seed heads of big bluestem towering above one's head is a stirring experience. It transports one back in time over two hundred years, before the tall-grass prairies of America's Midwest were plowed under for corn and wheat. Today, intact communities of tall grass prairies in the United States are even rarer than virgin temperate forests, and that's really saying something profound.

    Just for its sheer size alone, this tract would go on record as a top site for prairie protection. The back “forty” of the old farm has not been actively used for agriculture for many years and the prairie that now flourishes there is in pristine condition. The fields closer to the road were retired more recently but even here prairie species are making a comeback. One can walk among the mowed fields and see the distinctive leathery leaves of prairie dock popping up all over the place. The management possibilities for re-establishing a large prairie on this site are extraordinary. With some management, nearly the entire 140 acre farm could be returned to native prairie -- just be reactivating the dormant seed bank that lie below the non-native grasses.

    Nine state-listed species are found on the property, the most notable being Plantago cordata, or heart-leaved plantain. An attractive robust plant, Plantago has huge basal leaves.  Ironically this isn't a prairie plant at all but a wetlands' one. This extremely endangered plant grows in clear small stream beds having minimal water flow fluctuations. Such undisturbed sites can only occur in spring fed creeks buffered by significant acreage of woodlands, particularly wet woodlands, where the surrounding forest acts as a sponge to evenly regulate water flows in the creek. At one time heart-leaved plantain was scattered throughout the state, but due to watershed disruption and forest removal, the plant can now only be found in the Plum Run drainage and two other small sites.  In even at Plum Run it is declining in  numbers. Trying to save this attractive plant is a bit of a race against time, but we are willing to put out the effort to try. Buying and preserving Plum Run Prairie, one of the plant's last refuges in Ohio, is an important first step.

    The Plum Run Prairie region is among the forty sites listed by the Ohio Division of Natural Areas as the most important properties to protect in the state, and Plum Run has been on their watch-list for years. We are working closely with the state's natural areas' staff to create ways we can manage the site as partners, and give it even stronger protection than either one of us could do alone. This prairie is an exciting prospect for DNAP, because if we succeed in buying it and voluntarily dedicating it as a natural area, it would be the first tall-grass prairie to be protected by this agency in the entire state of Ohio. It would also be the first tall-grass prairie for the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System. For the staff of both organizations, acquiring a property as high-quality and as unusual an ecosystem as Plum Run Prairie is a peak lifetime experience in the profession of preservation.

    The price of the farm is $2100/acre; which is average for farms in Adams and Highland County in the more rural areas. For this particular property, we think this is an extremely fair sale price and we appreciate the family lowering their offering price to us in their hopes their farm could stay in one piece.

    Plum Run is a great companion prairie for Ka-ma-ma in our preserve system. Located even closer to Plum Run Prairie is Davis Memorial State Nature Preserve, operated by the Ohio Division of Natural Areas. This general region of Adams County is renowned for its spectacular plant diversity and its many documented rare and endangered species. Dreams for expanding this preserve in size, and possibly tying preserves together are not unrealistic visions for the future.

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